Carpetright sales melt in the heat

GRAEME EVANS

Carpetright has admitted a recent sales revival has run into the sand because of the three-week heatwave across much of Britain.

As householders ditched DIY in the sweltering weather, Carpetright said underlying sales fell 1.9 per cent in the UK in the 12 weeks to 20 July, after growth in May and June. Analysts at N+1 Singer estimate the group suffered a same-floorspace revenue slide of 8 per cent during July, amounting to about £3.5 million of lost sales.

Shares in Carpetright, which cheered investors recently after revealing underlying annual profits more than doubled to £9.7m for the year to April, closed dipped 4.5p to 677p.